This series of shorts features unexpected stories about individuals with moral courage and a deep sense of integrity, who singularly pursue their passions, purpose, and inner truths.

Program

Proof of Concept

Directed by Max Cohn and Ellie Sachs (USA, 2023, 6 min.).

An aspiring filmmaker (Ellie Sachs) tries coaxing her dad (Richard Kind) and uncle (Will Janowitz) into funding a short film, raising more questions than dollars.

Nothing but 34 Paintings

Directed by Ella Fainaru (Israel, 2023, 27 min.). Hebrew with English subtitles.

Nothing but 34 Paintings investigates the motivations behind Peggy Guggenheim’s donation of contemporary art to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in the 1950s, and how her long relationship with the institution’s then-director, Eugen Kolb, played a role in her decision.

Deciding Vote

Directed by Robert J. Lyons and Jeremy Workman (USA, 2023, 20 min.).

In 1970, New York assemblyman George Michaels cast a tiebreaking vote that legalized abortion in his state and paved the way for Roe v. Wade. But in the end, Michaels’s historic decision destroyed his career.

Dear Ani

Directed by Micah Levin (USA, 2022, 39 minutes.).

For 20 years aspiring songwriter and Boston native Keith Wasserman obsessively wrote letters to music icon Ani DiFranco. Although the correspondence was one sided, Wasserman believed DiFranco answered him through her song lyrics. Dear Ani explores what can happen when you present your truest self and risk total failure.

Followed by an in-person conversation with the filmmakers of Proof of Concept, Deciding Vote and Nothing Except 34 Paintings and the filmmaker and film subject Keith Wasserman of Dear Ani, moderated by BJF Artistic Director Lisa Gossels.